1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an improved hair treatment system and appliance, and more particularly pertains to a hair treatment system and appliance which is precisely and accurately controlled by a microprocessor. The subject invention precisely controls the application of heat to hair during the application of a treatment thereto, for instance during a conditioning treatment or a permanent program.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
All permanent waves function by opening primary bonds in the hair. If insufficient primary bonds are opened, the hair is considered underprocessed and the permanent will not last. On the opposite extreme, overprocessed hair will be dry, have excessive breakage and appear frizzy. A hair stylist often controls the treatment, and frequently utilizes a test curl to measure the progress thereof. A conventional way to confer a permanent or durable wave to hair is to allow a waving agent to react on the hair at room temperature. This is called cold waving. However, in this instance the waving agent, for example thioglycolate, must be relatively strong in order to react on the hair at room temperature. Thus, there is a substantial risk that the waving agent will damage the skin of the hair stylist or the hair of a patron. In addition, since the time period in which the waving agent reacts on the hair is determined primarily by the feeling and experience of a beautician, the degree of hair waving is occasionally too little or too great.
An improvement over cold waving is the application of a hair treatment program in conjunction with heat, in which case the relationships between time, temperature, concentration of treatment formulas, and the unique characteristics of the hair being treated, afford many controlled variables to the stylist during the hair treatment program. The taking of a test curl during a hot permanent is particularly disadvantageous in that a plastic cap normally placed over the patron's head must be opened to take the test curl, which cools the head and slows the treatment. Moreover, the test curl procedure might have to be repeated several times during a program.
Tsujimato et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,731, as well as related patents Tsujimato et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,256,127 and Itogawa et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,292,985, are of particular interest to the present invention. The first mentioned patent discloses a hair waving appliance having a bonnet in which the head of a patron is positioned. The bonnet has a plurality of infrared radiation lamps therein which serve as sources of heat for the different hairline areas during a treatment program. The bonnet also includes a plurality of individual temperature sensors which monitor the temperatures at the individual hairline areas. A microcomputer receives inputs applied via an input keyboard on the individual temperature and treatment times, and controls operation of the infrared lamps. In this arrangement, the temperatures and heating times of the separate heaters are entered into the microcomputer which then controls the individual heaters accordingly. Accordingly, in this reference, the microprocessor is utilized only in a control function or sense in which it controls the individual heaters and times their operational periods. In contrast thereto, the present invention operates in a substantially different fashion in which various treatment times and temperatures for several different treatments for different types of hair are permanently stored in memory, and are then selectively recalled to control the hair treatment program.